Abstract
BackgroundRanulas are salivary pseudocysts in the floor of the mouth adjacent to damaged salivary glands. Current surgical management is drainage of the ranula with removal of the offending gland. An analogous percutaneous procedure could potentially offer similar treatment efficacy in a more minimally invasive way.ObjectiveTo evaluate the outcomes of a cohort of patients with ranulas treated with percutaneous ranula aspiration and chemical ablation of the source salivary gland to see whether this technique could be proposed as a minimally invasive treatment alternative.Materials and methodsThis retrospective single-center study evaluated 24 patients treated percutaneously for ranulas between January 2004 and December 2014. All patients were treated with percutaneous ranula aspiration and chemical ablation of the offending salivary gland. Treatment success and any complications were recorded.ResultsComplete ranula eradication was successfully accomplished in 87.5% of the patients with no complications.ConclusionInitial results suggest that our technique of percutaneous aspiration of ranulas and chemical ablation of the source salivary gland is safe and effective.
Highlights
A ranula is a mucus-filled salivary pseudocyst in the floor of the mouth [1]
A simple or intraoral ranula is located within the floor of the mouth while a plunging or cervical ranula extends inferior to the mylohyoid muscle, often herniating through a defect in the muscle [4, 5]
Both of these patients were referred for operative management as we were concerned that there might be something anatomically or pathologically confounding in these glands causing recurrence that would be better served with operative resection of the entire gland
Summary
A ranula is a mucus-filled salivary pseudocyst in the floor of the mouth [1]. A ranula arises from a salivary gland or duct after trauma or blockage [2]. Ranulas most commonly originate from the sublingual gland, but they can arise from the submandibular gland [3]. A simple or intraoral ranula is located within the floor of the mouth while a plunging or cervical ranula extends inferior to the mylohyoid muscle, often herniating through a defect in the muscle [4, 5]. Ranulas are differentiated from other floor-of-mouth fluid collections based upon clinical presentation and imaging. Ranulas are salivary pseudocysts in the floor of the mouth adjacent to damaged salivary glands. Current surgical management is drainage of the ranula with removal of the offending gland. An analogous percutaneous procedure could potentially offer similar treatment efficacy in a more minimally invasive way
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